Josef Dobrovský (17 August 1753 – 6 January 1829) was a Czech

philologist Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as th ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the stu ...

, one of the most important figures of the

Czech National Revival The Czech National Revival was a cultural movement which took place in the Czech lands during the 18th and 19th centuries. The purpose of this movement was to revive the Czech language, culture and national identity. The most prominent figures o ...

along with

Josef Jungmann Josef Jungmann (16 July 1773 in Hudlice, near Beroun – 14 November 1847 in Prague) was a Czech poet and linguist, and a leading figure of the Czech National Revival. Together with Josef Dobrovský, he is considered to be a creator of the moder ...

Life and work

Dobrovský was born at Balassagyarmat,

Nógrád County Nógrád ( hu, Nógrád megye, ; sk, Novohradská župa) is a counties of Hungary, county ( hu, megye) of Hungary. It sits on the northern edge of Hungary and borders Slovakia. Description Nógrád county lies in northern Hungary. It shares bor ...

, in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

, when his father Jakub Doubravský (1701, Solnitz (Czech: Solnice),

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

1764, Bischofteinitz (Czech: Horšovský Týn), Bohemia) was temporarily stationed as a

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

there. His mother was Magdalena Dobrovská (1733, Tschaslawsko (Czech: Čáslavsko), Bohemia 1797). He received his first education in the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

school at

Horšovský Týn Horšovský Týn (; german: Bischofteinitz) is a town in Domažlice District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 4,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument reserv ...

in Plzeň district, made his first acquaintance with the

Czech language Czech (; Czech ), historically also Bohemian (; ''lingua Bohemica'' in Latin), is a West Slavic language of the Czech–Slovak group, written in Latin script. Spoken by over 10 million people, it serves as the official language of the Czech Re ...

and soon made himself fluent in it at the Německý Brod gymnasium, and then studied for some time under the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

Klatovy Klatovy (; german: Klattau) is a town in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 22,000 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by law as an urban monument zone. Administrative parts Klatovy is made up of 30 ...

. In 1769 he began to study

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

at the University of Prague. In 1772 he was admitted among the Jesuits at

Brno Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...

and was preparing for a Christian

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. However, the entire order was dissolved in the Czech lands in 1773 and Dobrovský thus returned to Prague to study

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. After holding for some time the office of tutor to Count Nostitz, he obtained an appointment first as vice-rector, and then as rector, in the general seminary at Hradisko (now part of

Olomouc Olomouc (, , ; german: Olmütz; pl, Ołomuniec ; la, Olomucium or ''Iuliomontium'') is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 99,000 inhabitants, and its larger urban zone has a population of about 384,000 inhabitants (2019). Located on th ...

); but in 1790 he lost his post through the abolition of the seminaries throughout the

Habsburg Empire The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

, and returned as a guest to the house of the count. At this time, he wrote some of the most important works in Slavic studies,

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. In 1792 he was commissioned by the Bohemian Academy of Sciences to visit

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

in search of the manuscripts which had been scattered by the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, and on his return he accompanied Count Nostitz to

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In the 1780s Dobrovský participated in the academic life of

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. In 1784, he helped to set up the

Royal Czech Society of Sciences Royal Bohemian Society of Sciences ( la, Regia Societas Scientiarum Bohemica; german: Königliche böhmische Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften; cs, Královská česká společnost nauk) was established in 1784 – originally without the adjective " ...

, and in 1818 the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

of what was to become

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

and eventually the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. However, his reason began to give way in 1795, and in 1801 he had to be confined in a

lunatic asylum The lunatic asylum (or insane asylum) was an early precursor of the modern psychiatric hospital. The fall of the lunatic asylum and its eventual replacement by modern psychiatric hospitals explains the rise of organized, institutional psychiatr ...

, but by 1803 he had completely recovered. The rest of his life was mainly spent either in Prague or at the country seats of his friends Counts Nostitz and

Czernin The House of Czernin ( cs, Černínové z Chudenic; german: Czernin von und zu Chudenitz) is a Czech noble family that was one of the oldest and most prominent noble families in the Kingdom of Bohemia. The family is a descendent family of the ...

, but his death occurred in

, where he had gone in 1828 to study in the local libraries. While his fame rests chiefly on his labours in Slavonic philology his botanical studies are not without value in the history of the science. Between 1948 and 1968 Czech poet

Vladimír Holan Vladimír Holan (; September 16, 1905 – March 31, 1980) was a Czechoslovak poet famous for employing obscure language, dark topics and pessimistic views in his poems. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in the late 1960s. Life Holan was born ...

lived in the so-called "Dobrovský House" on Kampa, often saying that the ''Blue

Abbé ''Abbé'' (from Latin ''abbas'', in turn from Greek , ''abbas'', from Aramaic ''abba'', a title of honour, literally meaning "the father, my father", emphatic state of ''abh'', "father") is the French word for an abbot. It is the title for lowe ...

'' (a nickname by which Dobrovský was known) would sometimes visit him.

Most important works

* ''Fragmentum Pragense evangelii S. Marci, vulgo autographi'' (1778) * a periodical for Bohemian and Moravian literature (1780–1787) * ''Scriptores rerum Bohemicarum'' (2 vols., 1783) * ''Geschichte der böhm. Sprache und alten Literatur'' (1792) * ''Die Bildsamkeit der slaw. Sprache'' (1799) * a ''Deutsch-böhm. Wörterbuch'' compiled in collaboration with Leschk, Puchmayer and Hanka (1802–1821) * ''Entwurf eines Pflanzensystems nach Zahlen und Verhältnissen'' (1802) * ''Glagolitica'' (1807) * ''Lehrgebäude der böhmischen Sprache'' (1809) * ''Institutiones linguae slavicae dialecti veteris'' (1822) * ''Entwurf zu einem allgemeinen Etymologikon der slaw. Sprachen'' (1813) * ''Slowanka zur Kenntnis der slaw. Literatur'' (1814) * a critical edition of

Jordanes Jordanes (), also written as Jordanis or Jornandes, was a 6th-century Eastern Roman bureaucrat widely believed to be of Goths, Gothic descent who became a historian later in life. Late in life he wrote two works, one on Roman history (''Romana ...

, ''De rebus Geticis'', for Pertz's ''

Monumenta Germaniae Historica The ''Monumenta Germaniae Historica'' (''MGH'') is a comprehensive series of carefully edited and published primary sources, both chronicle and archival, for the study of Northwestern and Central European history from the end of the Roman Empire ...

'' See Palacký, ''J. Dobrowskys Leben und gelehrtes Wirken'' (1833).

Notes

References

External link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobrovsky, Josef 1753 births 1829 deaths 18th-century Bohemian people 19th-century Czech people 18th-century Austrian people 19th-century Austrian people Czech Roman Catholics Czech academics Czech writers in German Czech philologists Linguists from the Czech Republic Czech language activists Slavists Czech lexicographers Historians of the Czech lands Charles University alumni Members of the Russian Academy People from the Kingdom of Hungary People from the Kingdom of Bohemia People from Balassagyarmat Writers from Brno Czech Roman Catholic writers

Life and work

Most important works

See also

Notes

References

External link